A Baltimore Birth Day

There’s this certain not-so-nice little boy I know. He’s a friend of Ryan’s and apparently loves to torment me. He delights in trying to convince Ry that I’m, “not a nice lady” amongst other things. And he loves to say, “Ha Ha…” followed by some sort of boast or put down, sounding just like the bully from the Simpsons. But a few weeks ago he said some really funny things…I happened to mention something about my husband in front of him. And he proceeded to say, “Ha ha, Jenn’s just a teenager and she has a husband!” As though making fun of me for being a child bride. And then a few days later, again, “Ha ha, Jenn has a husband and she’s just sixteen!” It seems his five year old brain is having a hard time with numbers—but I’ll take it—as yesterday I turned 31!

In the morning Keith and I walked along the harbor boardwalk to my favorite French bakery for breakfast—an amazing strawberry tart. Then we went to the Farmer’s Market for lunch and lettuce and cukes and baby bok choy. And for dinner Keith surprised me and took me to the sweetest, most delicious restaurant--Woodberry Kitchen. If you live in Baltimore, you have to go! We had a drink with vanilla vodka and sarsparilla, chevre and tiny fresh strawberries, flatbread with sweet wild onions, marjoram and feta, plus main courses. Everything was so fresh and wonderful!

Okay, here’s my list of things I want to do/accomplish in the next two years (giving myself just one year for some of these things might be a bit unreasonable as I’ll be in Asia all next year):

1) Visit Tibet
2) Learn to speak enough Tibetan to be able to talk to my teacher without a translator
3) Learn how to use the sewing machine Keith bought me for my birthday two years ago
4) Make clothes with said sewing machine
5) Learn how to knit mittens, socks and booties
6) Become more calm and patient
7) Stop getting so many headaches
8) Finish my ngondro
9) Exercise (this one I don’t really want to do but feel I should)
10) Take a photography class/become a better photographer
11) Publish at least a chapbook
12) Write a travel book (stories)

Aahh...

Yesterday Ry and I spent the morning at the teeny creek in his neighborhood. He had fun searching for frogs and waterbugs, but when we got home he had to take a bath to wash off the chemicals and whatever other nasty city runoff was in it.

But today...

Today was in the nineties. And so we headed for the woods, to Cascade Falls. The pools were clear, the air cool there in the shade of the forest.

The air inexplicably smelled of berries. We saw a yawning snake and met and old man and his grandson. The man was 80 and said he'd been coming there since he was a boy. He told us how the waterfall came from a spring up in the hills, how he rides his bike everyday to stay fit, and how he's actually only had 20 birth days--"I was born on Leap Year," he laughed.

Ry splashed and ran and searched for gold--thin pieces of mica glinting up at us. I breathed and wondered how I can forget the rejuvenating feel of the forests.

13 Days

It's hot and I'm afraid there's a dead mouse in the wall and I have to pack! But there's a headache and oh the laziness...

These days I'm loving:
-English muffins with peanut butter, honey and blueberries for breakfast.
-Treehouses
-The amazing novel Stone Butch Blues which I finished last night when I should have been packing--no more reading till I'm done!!! (But I'm dying to read this: Banana Heart Summer).

I've 13 days until I lay my head down in a tent each night. Falling asleep to the sounds of insects, waking with the birds at dawn, whole days sitting in fields--nothing to think.

I'm off to pack!

Someone wants me to get a tiny dose of India now...

We've had no electricity for more than 24 hrs--26 and a half to be precise.
Amazing (and sad?) how almost everything I do I use electricity--laundry, dishwasher, phone, internet, computer, lights, stove, oven, fridge, A/C...how I unthinkingly flip light switches.
It's hot and steamy. And I admit I was pissed when I reached for the last freeze pop after a hot walk only to remember THERE'S NO ELECTRICITY! I really think this is the longest I've ever gone without power. It seems sort of horrible. God I'm so Western--so spoiled!
But jeeze it was lovely last night to only have the light of small beeswax candles in glass lanterns--I had thought I wouldn't be able to put those to good use for years!

Lately

According to Ryan, this is "Mrs Cute" aka baby Amaia........

Feeling like Pooh bear eating walnut tree honey

Mulberries! Mulberries!

Yes, Another Work Post

There's definitely no leaving work at work. I mean, there's no getting Ryan out of my head.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

A four and a half year old, "made up of freckles and scrapes," as he said today. A boy with orange curls, orange eyebrows ("I don't know who dyed them that color" he told me in Whole Foods this afternoon as we sat reading Mrs Piggle Wiggle while his mom shopped with the new baby).

Yes, it's challenging trying to take care of him. Yes, somedays I think I'll never have children. Yes, my patience and calm are tested and I repeatedly fail (at least on the inside)...

But then there are moments of such inexplicable sweetness.

Life/work reminding me again and again that everything is impermanence, everything is change.

Moments

This is an inch worm house Ry made. "Now he's got such a brilliant world," he said.

Mulberry picking in the back alley!

In the new treehouse...

Making "grapevine, maple sugar and maple honey leaf soup" (in a tree)!

The Truth

Sometimes

Sometimes you have to take drastic measures. Like when there's a heat wave. And even with your AC cranked for three days, the heat seems to be trapped inside you and all you can think of eating is fruit and vegetables. Cold. Or maybe both together.


Two nights ago I made this cold buttermilk tomato soup. It was pretty good. And definitely cold. But I really loved how the buttermilk looked swirling into the jug...


And no, this is not desert. It was last night's dinner. Zucchini soup and summer squash, cucumber and cantaloupe salad. Really really good.

These Days, Everything's in FLux

Actually, everything's always in flux. My mind pulled two ways. Do I want relative ease--comfort--in Nepal? Or to be close to Holiness in hellish India? Or lots of time in Tibet and facing my fear of altitude sickness?

And sorting through my endless detritus--poems and papers with names of books I want to read and bands to check out and movies to watch and recipes to make. Because in 27 days I'll be homeless for 14 months! Moving from place to place. Baltimore to New York to Massachusetts to Hong Kong to Chengdu to Kham to Kathmandu to Pharping. Pharping to Bangkok to Bangalore to Bodghaya.

I like to have a nest--surrounded by all my clothes and books and papers. But there's too much stuff. Too many toiletries and catalogs and magazines. Too many shoes. Too much everything! So my motto/struggle now is SIMPLIFY. It scares me that I seemed to have an easier time doing this four years ago when K and I basically sold everything we owned and went to Asia for the first time. This time I don't have as much stuff here in Baltimore as I did then in Colorado. But it's still hard paring things down to the essentials. Alloting myself just two big tupperwares of things to bring with me this summer. And then narrowing that down to just one small pack when we leave in Sept.

I know by then I'll feel exhilarated, sort of free and so much less encumbered than I do now...No bills, no cooking or cleaning to do. But today, these days, I feel a little daunted. So many bits and pieces to sift through. So much to let go of.

Upstate Take 2

We camped at the bottom of this little hill.

In the morning the grass was covered in tiny glistening water droplets and spiderwebs and dewey caterpillars.

And...More Things That Make Me Happy

Today is the first day of the Strawberry Moon...(last month was the Flower Moon).
A fitting breakfast of strawberries, coconut water and kefir...

I love second breakfasts!! Chocolate chip coconut banana bread and chai.

Other things:

Bits of red string and cheesecloth and balloons. Kira Kira. Twine and a tiny watercolor set imprinted with cats. Dear Nora. Katy Davidson. Parachutes. William Eggleston (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKUK_MPByHkg7_4wTWkqnGsivHl_yNcZ4GLiDKvYbDR6KcMj1y_TNILMWG1ysBhpLrKGSYHiLVvVRMRDyIPsp2Tgv0JBwzoQsumJN_VT-aaB5lfVkb1hRsFTTIYp3cF0l-fl-IRrovSsk/s400/arsl04_eggleston.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://photo-muse.blogspot.com/2007/08/william-egglestons-5x7-and-new-american.html&h=277&w=400&sz=37&hl=en&start=6&um=1&tbnid=9nNkoYO4d4pn4M:&tbnh=86&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwilliam%2Beggleston%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den)

It's Summer In My Mind

The Farmer's Market makes me so happy....

Especially this man...I have a weakness for old guys anyway....But this one in particular always gets me...He sits on the end of his truck so patiently watching everyone go by. And he has the sweetest smile. After I thanked him for letting me take his picture he said he hoped he didn't break my camera...

Irises that smell like grapes (from the guy above)...

Yay for spring peas and asparagus and strawberries and black-raspberry kefir!